What a day this was! After having perfect weather for the entire time we have been in Tibet, we woke up this morning to clouds. As we started up towards the Everest Base Camp, it started to snow. We had to climb 1000m (3030ft) on a road which was one switchback after another. The snow kept coming and getting thicker and thicker. Our.guides decided that we would go as far as the Rongbuk monastery, have lunch and go back down because of the weather, instead of staying at the monastery and hiking to the base camp tomorrow as planned.

We arrived at Rongbuk monastery in a driving snow storm - but we did climb up to the stupa to hang our prayer flags at the highest point we will be in Tibet. We were told to print our familys' names on the flags, so all of our kids (and grandson) have their names flying at the highest inhabited place in the world - which is sure to blow all of their troubles away! Of course, in this snow storm we saw nothing of Everest.

As we started down the mountain, it turned into a total whiteout and it was very difficult to even see the road. It was a long and nervewracking ride and we were very happy to finally reach the valley - especially since seat belts didn't seem to come with our 4x4!

Because we had not planned to come to this small town of Tigri, we ended up staying in a very basic guest house with communal outdooor toilets and shower. Our dinner was served in the family common area which was warmed by a yak dung fired cookstove/heater. It was yak meat stew with potatoes and momos (delicious Tibetan small dumplings with yak meat and vegetables). Definitely a day to remember!